Echoes of Time
by Exile Wrath
Summary: The Cloud watched as intruders entered the NONA Tower with intention to destroy his Sky's legacy. When he went off to casually deal with the intruders, though, he did not expect to meet two people that reminded him of himself and Tsunayoshi. "Don't let your Sky disappear from your sight, or else you will end up like I did. Keep her close." Spoilers for ep16. Oneshot ShinAka 1827


**Exile: YES! I DID IT! This plotbunny has been bugging me for **_**weeks.**_

**Some OOCness on Kougami and Hibari's part, maybe? And a terrified Makishima, trololol. **

**Summary: The Cloud watched as intruders entered the NONA Tower with intention to destroy his Sky's legacy. When he went off to casually deal with the intruders, though, he did not expect to meet two people that reminded him of himself and Tsunayoshi. "Don't let your Sky disappear from your sight, or else you will end up like I did. Keep her close."**

* * *

The moment the first security drone fell, his ears perked up, and the man raised his head from his pillow that he had been resting on. He didn't need to sleep, but it was the only thing he did when there was no reason for him to bite any idiotic herbivores to death.

But now it seemed that his rest would be interrupted.

Easily, he leapt from the beam of the NONA tower that he had been on, and his feet touched down on the floor lightly. With a feral grin, he took his tonfa out and slipped on a purple bracelet. "Roll. Come out now."

"Pupiiii~" the hedgehog piped, appearing next to its master in a puff of Cloud Flames.

"We have some herbivores to bite to death," he announced, "No one interferes with Tsunayoshi's legacy while I am still alive."

"GAO!" the lion cub that had popped out of nowhere growled in agreement, and the two animals ran after their master as he headed towards the lowest levels of his domain.

For nearly a century now, Hibari Kyouya had been alive. He had the appearance of when he was 28, as that was when Tsunayoshi had approached him with his plan. A plan to give order to the lives of humans, a system to the world.

The last legacy of the Neo Vongola Primo was the Sibyl System, which was in use worldwide. Of course, time had caused changes, and the current System was in reality much different from its envisioner's original. But no matter; Hibari would keep discipline no matter what. No matter the time period, he was always the strongest Guardian in existence. The Storm watched over Italy, the Rain in Northern Japan, Mists in charge of hunting down people that dared hack the System, Lightning in Africa, and the noisy Sun in the US. The Cloud had drifted home, to watch over the town once known as Namimori.

Their Sky had died nearly 20 years ago, and the Weathers had parted ways somewhat.

All of this flashed through Hibari's mind as he leapt down the tower to intercept the intruders. They all stank of undisciplined herbivores. His mouth twitched in anticipation at being able to bite something to death.

They were directly below him now, and Hibari couldn't help but snarl at the sight of the two herbivores behind the rest, who were wearing odd helmets. The one with brown hair was definitely not entirely human, and the one with white hair... no doubt he was the descendant of the pineapple-herbivore and marshmallow that the female pineapple-herbivore had told him about. Byakuran was working with them in conjunction with Tsunayoshi's plans, so clearly they had used the science of the era to produce a child.

Hibari briefly thought about his progeny that Haru had from him, from their unconsumnated marriage. Haru had agreed to bear a child for him, to hide his relationship with Tsunayoshi and Kyoko had done the same for his Sky. He had not checked up on what would be his grandchild, though. Shortly after the children's births, the System had been introduced and Hibari and Tsuna had not been able to get to their children often.

He shook the idea from his head. This was no time to bother with such notions. With a flick of his finger, he signaled the two animals.

"PUPIIIIIiii..." Roll cried, leaping from the beam and going into Needle Sphere form right above the herbivores' heads. One of the helmeted ones was immediately pierced to death by a spike, the rest managing to dodge. The whole group looked up, and the reactions varied upon sight of him.

"Who are you?" the one with white hair asked with narrowed eyes.

Hibari didn't deign to give a proper answer. "For entering the Tower without authorization, prepare to be bitten to death." A great roar resounded next to him, Natsu having changed to its formidable Attacking form. The lion jumped next to Roll, baring its teeth. The herbivores were immediately startled. "Natsu, you should play with them while you can," he stated casually, and the lion nodded, its Flame mane growing with excitement. "Now..." Hibari appeared right in front of the Helmet herbivores, who were recovering their nerves. "_Kamikorosu yo_."

One of them swung his weapon, a circular saw, at his head. Hibari dodged easily, coming up behind him to strike the base of the neck with his tonfa, then bashed the helmet and rendered it useless. Then the helmet itself was torn off and a tonfa smashed the man's face.

It took only three seconds. Pathetic.

Hibari turned to glare at the pineapple marshmallow. "What are your intentions?" he demanded, killing another herbivore that had tried to sneak up on him.

"Who are you?" the herbivore with slits in his eyes asked cautiously, gesturing to the grunts to get back.

"I have no obligation to inform you, herbivore."

The pineapple-marshmallow stepped forward, spreading his hands in a disarming gesture. "We are simply here to free society of the System which keeps their mind and will in chains," he stated charismatically. Hibari rolled his eyes.

"How foolishly idealistic, pineapple-marshmallow," he stated brusquely. The man blinked in confusion at the name. "With Sibyl, the discipline was kept efficiently. The only flaws are in how you foolish humans interpret the data Sibyl gives you."

"You speak as if you are not human," the same person observed intently.

The Skylark smiled, a feral grin that made most of the group take a step back. Holding up his tonfa, "Did I ever say I was?"

"I am the guardian of Tsunayoshi's legacy, you herbivorous mortal."

And then his assault started, Hibari smirking as he made sure to never allow the helmeted herbivores the ability to move again, Natsu right behind him. The two without helmets simply ran off, one up, one down. The lion promptly chased after the one that had gone after the main CPU of the System, and Hibari yawned, cracking his back before leisurely following the other one upstairs. He would take his time. Why waste a perfectly good herbivorous human punching bag?

* * *

"Wha- what is this..." Akane croaked, looking at the mass of bodies littering the ground in horror. Most of them were clearly dead, other were alive but guaranteed to never be able to move properly again. There was a huge, gaping hole in the middle of one, as if he had been stabbed by a giant spike.

Kagari whistled, unable to come up with any proper words. "Someone- or something, actually - got to them before we did." He bent down, picking up a helmet. "These guys were clearly with that Makishima dude, considering what they're wearing and their weapons."

Kougami stared at the slaughter before him with analytical eyes. "No human could have done this..." he muttered.

"... monster. Mo- monster. He's not human- _that was a monster,_" a broken voice reached their ears. All three whirled around, spotting a man leaning against the staircase, missing his feet and his eyes blown wide open.

The trio approached him cautiously. When he looked up, upon seeing Kougami, he screamed, "MONSTER. MONSTER. GET AWAY FROM ME!" and attempted to scramble away. Kagari and Akane looked at the Enforcer in puzzlement. He shook his head.

"Seeing the state this guy is in, he's in a horrible shock. I think that he's mistaking me for the killer," he stated flatly. "That means that the killer is male and we share some resemblance."

Kagari looked at him sideways. "Eeeh. That's scary. Kou-chan is already intimidating as is. If this guy looks like you, then that would be plain frightening."

"Should we split up?" Akane asked cautiously.

The Enforcer to her right hesitated before nodding. "Inspector, you should come with me. Kagari, I'll go up, you go down?"

"Trying to keep her safe in case she runs into Makishima?" the orange-head guessed, shrugging in agreement. "Okay. If I meet the killer, I'll probably end up running, though. The bus engine was still warm when we got here, so this couldn't have happened more than at least forty five minutes ago. And some of the blood was congealing already, so that means this guy offed the lot insanely fast. I doubt that I would be able to pin him with the Dominator long enough to lock on."

"Don't die, Kagari-san."

Before they decided to split up, Kagari suddenly tapped his cheek expectantly in front of the Inspector, insisting he needed a "good luck charm".

Feeling so anxious for what could happen next, Tsunemori pecked him on the cheek without second thought. She turned to the other Enforcer planning to formally nod at him and be on her way, but was greeted by a light kiss on her own cheek "for good luck" and then one on her lips, "Just in case if I uh... don't get the chance again."

If she had not been an Inspector for the MWPSB and just a normal woman, Akane would have reacted... unfavorably to the situation. But instead the brunet stepped back, smacked her forehead to not fangirl, and looked at Kougami, who was already marching up the staircase, clutching his Dominator.

"Shion, can we use these elevators?" he asked, kicking the door of one of said elevators. On the communications screen, the analyst shook her head.

"They've been isolated and blocked off," the blond explained firmly, typing away at her tablet frantically. "Just give me a moment-"

"What about the stairs?" Akane cried.

"They're on the ninetieth floor, Akane-chan! Here- I've managed to get into the elevators used for transporting drones. I'm sending you a map to your Communicator now," Shion exclaimed, typing a few last commands in the computer before hitting enter.

"Wait, have you been able to get a full image of the killer?" Kougami demanded, running on the path the map directed. Shion shook her head.

"Upstairs is Makishima. He actually went up the elevator to the eighty-fifth floor and went through the stairwell to where he is now. Somehow, the guy that's chasing him damaged the elevator vent and he had to get off there. Here, I'll give you guys a feed of what's happening. But the chaser has been undetectable to the security cameras so far."

When the link came through, the duo had started the elevator. What they saw was Makishima going up the stairwell, walking slowly as he clearly conversed with someone hidden from the cameras. But the peculiar thing was that Makishima was clearly _nervous._

* * *

Hibari was amused.

Utterly amused.

"You are so much like them I wish to toss you off the building," he commented as he strode after the herbivore leisurely.

Makishima raised an eyebrow, "Like who, Guardian-san?" This man was nothing like Kougami Shinya, he had realized. Whereas his target was analytical and an interesting toy, this one was...

_Monster _was the best word he could think of.

"Your ancestors, marshmallow-pineapple herbivore," Hibari said curtly.

Makishima narrowed his eyes. "What ancestors do you speak of?"

"The damn marshmallow and the annoying pineapple."

"Look, Guardian-sa-"

"_Silence, herbivore." _The man barely managed to dodge a tonfa thrown at his head, which bounced off the wall of the stairwell and back in his opponent's hand. "I think I'll play with you for a while, considering that those other herbivores down there were utterly boring."

The white-haired man bounded up a set of ladders, going up into the ninetieth floor of the tower as he slammed the iron lid down and activated the electronic lock, separating himself and his pursuer. "It seems that I have awoken the sleeping dragon," he murmured.

Behind him, the Drone-transport elevator dinged. There were two clicks, and a female voice stated, "Makishima Shougo. You are under arrest."

Shougo rolled away, blocking the punches that Kougami came at him with. "How annoying," he complained and he was forced to the ground and then flipped the Enforcer over his shoulder. "First the Dragon decides to wreck half my plan and then the MWPSB show up. Delightful."

Akane was about to try something she had been dying to do to Makishima when the hatch next to her buckled. She whirled around in shock, and then the iron cylinder that was the safety hatch door _flew off_ its hinges, sending up and explosion of iron filing-dust. Jumping away, she aimed her Dominator at the cause of it.

The cause of it turned out to be a gigantic spike from a... hedgehog, if she remembered from her ecology class correctly.

But Akane was extremely sure that hedgehogs did not have purple spheres enclosing them and _steel spikes _jutting out of the sphere.

The animal spotted her, it's purple eyes going wide. There was a puff of something purple and then something rubbed against her leg. "Pupiiiiiiii~" the creature cried, looking up at her plaintively. Wait- was it _crying_? Purple spikes covered its back, each shaking like a leaf in the wind.

A footstep came from the direction of the hatch, and Akane looked up from the hedgehog and met the grey eyes of the carnivore that had cornered Makishima. He looked at her, shock briefly crossing his face. "Tsunayos- no, you aren't him," he started, but shook his head and cut himself off. "Roll, get back here." The hedgehog whined, tapping its paws against her leg again. "Roll. _That is not Tsunayoshi." _The small animal looked up at Akane again and seemed to droop, scurrying back to the man.

He wore a high-collared black trench coat with a red and gold band pinned to his left arm with slacks and dress shoes. However, his right hand clutched something that resembled a stun baton, but the purple fire covering it told Akane that it was definitely a worse weapon. Cropped black hair, longer than Kougami-san's though, and steel grey eyes. His mouth moved, "Hmph. An Inspector, I see. Pity, I wanted to play with the marshmallow-pineapple herbivore for his pitiful plot."

There was a cracking sound, and Kougami grappled with Makishima. The man glanced at the fighting pair and his grip tightened on on his weapon. His head swiveled to look at her and then back at Kougami. "You. What is your name?" he demanded.

Ignoring the stranger's question, Akane moved her arm holding the Dominator. But instead of aiming it at Shougo (she knew it was futile), she... let go of the handle.

The Enforcer was fighting with his rival for one moment and then there was a _thunk _and Makishima fell down backwards, the muzzle of the Dominator having hit the back of his head with alarming accuracy. Kougami looked up in alarm. "Tsunemori, Did you just-"

"He called the Dominator a useless hunk of steel when he killed Yuki," she explained, taking out a pair of handcuffs. "Now, didn't Ginoza-san request us to take Makishima alive?"

Hibari couldn't help it. "Hmph, how amusing," he chuckled. _Tsunayoshi would have had a heart attack if he had seen this. _The two glanced at him warily, obviously on guard. "I have no doubt that you are my descendants now."

Their gazes turned into startled shock. "What are you saying?" Kougami queried, not letting any emotions cross his face. "You're at least as old as me. That's impossible."

The Skylark's lips curled upward a bit, revealing his canine teeth. "I am older than the Sibyl System," he stated curtly.

They gawked like undignified herbivores.

"But I have long stopped aging, due to nanomachines in my blood." In reality, it was because of the Sun Flame pills which constantly regenerated cells and necessary molecules when others died.

"You can't be serious-"

"It technically is possible, Kougami-san, but-"

"_Kou_gami Shin_ya_. _Tsun_emori _A_kane," he recited their names which he had seen on a list from the Drone that was in charge of the MWPSB with a trace of bitterness, "My name is Hibari _Kyouya_. The Omnivore went by _Tsuna_. Fate plays funny games with us sometimes."

"What are you... implying?" Akane asked.

The man shook his head, "It is nothing that you herbivores need to know."

Silence fell upon the trio, Hibari examining them and they processing what he had stated. Abruptly, Roll's spikes shot out, and it raised its head, keening an odd, high-pitched sound. Hibari's head looked down, an eyebrow raised. "Piiiii. Piiiii."

"Natsu followed the other herbivore down to the Chamber?" Shinya and Akane exchanged curious glances. He could communicate with animals, it seemed?

Footsteps came closer to them, and suddenly a hand brushed aside her brown bangs and the man gently pressed his lips there on her forehead for a second. "It seems that you and Tsunayoshi share much in common," Hibari murmured. Kougami retaliated instinctively, raising his leg to kick him. Hibari dodged it easily, walking past the Enforcer and saying two sentences to him before jumping out the window. Then there was silence again.

The MWPSB got over the suddenness of the minute quickly, rushing to look down in horror. However, what they saw merely confirmed Makishima's name for the man, the "Dragon".

The spiked balls from the hedgehog went from right beneath their feet and extended all the way to the bottom of the NONA Tower; ninety stories, purple spheres extended, and they could see a moving figure that was clearly the mysterious person, Hibari Kyouya.

"Kougami-san?" Tsunemori asked as they watched the spheres disappear within a few minutes, "What did he say to you?"

"It's nothing, Inspector," he replied. "It didn't make much sense."

"Can you just tell me?"

He pressed his lips together, remembering the words sharply. "He said, 'Don't let your Sky disappear from your sight, or else you will end up like I did. Treasure the Sky and always be there, like the Clouds are.'"

Akane was quiet for a moment. "What do you think he means?"

"I'm not sure, Tsunemori." Turning to look at the prone figure of Makishima, he queried, "What should we do right now?"

"Let's wait for Ginoza-san to get here," she whispered, dazed as she put her hand to where Hibari-san had kissed her. It had been one like her parents gave her... it was regretful, though, but somehow there had been hope emanating from him at the moment. "Makishima isn't going anywhere the way he is now. Please... I know this is hard for you, but _please _don't try to kill him, Kougami-san."

The Enforcer glanced at the man with disdain, lips curling into a sneer. "Even though he did so many horrible things... I'll try, or else ino will blow a gasket for not following orders," he muttered, "What about Kagari?"

They looked outside, at the shattered window that Hibari had exited.

"Kagari will be safe."

* * *

"_Mode: Lethal Eliminator. Please aim safely and eliminate the target." _The man watched in shock as Choe spun around from his laptop, a gun appearing in his hand as he shot at the person and then exploded when the shot hit him. Kagari turned his head towards the catwalk.

"C-Chief Kasei?!" he identified, eyes scanning the "elderly woman's" person. _The Chief isn't a person,_ he thought frantically, _she's an android_! The Dominator in her hand was pointed at him, and the familiar "Non-Lethal Paralyzer" was heard. But he couldn't do anything as she- it somehow overrode the Dominator and it jerkily changed into a form which made his heart drop to his stomach.

"_Destroy Decomposer_," the directional voice echoed. The trigger was pulled, and the redhead smiled to himself, closing his eyes.

"Death will be my only freedom, huh?"

"_Man, this bites."_

But there was no pain, no blinding flash of light.

Instead, there was a roar, a rush of heat, and a shaking of the platform as something large and furry and _warm _pressed against his side.

Kagari dared to crack open an eye and nearly yelled as he was greeted with a flaming mane of a beast that wasn't supposed to exist in Japan. "A-a-a lion?" he whispered, dumbfounded. The Chief-droid seemed to have stopped in its movements, looking at the King of Beasts with wide eyes.

"Please move, Natsu-sama," a jittery, cracked version of the Chief's voice came out. Whatever Choe had shot before he died, it seemed to be a strong enough weapon to have damaged the android's systems. "He must die."

The lion merely shifted closer to Shuusei, who gingerly set a hand on its back, feeling the fur beneath his fingers and remembering the sensation. He had never touched a _lion _before! His friends would be jealous.

He caught himself mid-thought, and couldn't find any presence of the fear that had been there before. The lion's presence was calming, welcoming, and kind. It was protecting him.

The Dominator took aim again. "Natsu" growled, moving low to the ground to pounce in case she shot.

"Sibyl Servant, shut down," a sudden male voice commanded. The Chief-droid's eyes dimmed and rolled back, and it collapsed backwards. "Identify yourself and your allegiances."

Kagari could tell that this was definitely directed at him. Nervously, he smiled at the direction of the voice. "Kagari Shuusei, Enforcer at the MWPSB."

"Hn." A man leaped down from a catwalk right above his head, landing behind the Chief's body. "I am the Guardian of this town's Sibyl System. I stopped the idiotic mechanic's robot from killing you, so now you must not tell anyone of this chamber."

Kagari could handle that. He had touched an actual lion, nearly gotten killed by a weapon he commonly used, and was being let go as long as he kept his mouth shut about an unknown basement. "Deal?" he said questioningly.

He could feel himself being eyed carefully. "If you tell anyone of what transpired here, and this site, I will hunt you down," the male continued in a businesslike voice.

"Sure. Can I go?" the redhead queried hopefully.

"Natsu will take you. Your companions are safe and at the top of the Tower. More herbivores affiliated with them have entered the building." He snapped his fingers, and the lion lowered itself next to Kagari, looking up at him with brilliant orange eyes as the Enforcer gingerly sat on the creature's back. "Apparently, he's taken a liking to you. Live, and never let the Sky go, Kagari Shuusei."

Then there was a rush of air and the great beast jumped _up _and _higher_ and _higher_ and he laughed freely, never having felt so exhilarated in ages. "This is better than all the video games in the world!" he whooped, all his fears an earlier worries being replaced with sheer joy, not caring that he had no idea of the stranger's name. "Whee! Yatta!"

* * *

Hibari nudged the Sibyl Servant with a foot. "Tch. About to kill this generation Sky's Sun. I should send you back to the Storm herbivore for fixing." Then he walked away, muttering things about damn androids that seemed to have deleted Flame-recognizing programming.

The Cloud would always protect what his Sky had left behind.

Even his descendants.

Even the would-be guardians of said descendant.

"_I will remember you, Sawada Tsunayoshi. Always." _

With that, the Guardian activated his Box Weapon and went up, up to the highest story of the NONA Tower.

The place where he always slept.

The place closest to the sky.

* * *

**To Recap and explain:**

**Tsuna created the concept of the Sibyl System, and he spent many years making it. **

**Sibyl here is actually a giant Flame-powered computer.**

**The Guardians have stopped aging, because Tsuna gave them with the task of making sure that no one destroyed their work. They had the choice to live their natural lives, but they accepted for his sake and for the Vongola's duty.**

**Akane is distantly related to Tsuna. Kougami is distantly related to Hibari. **

**Hibari is able to see Flames and realized that they were his and Tsuna's descendants. **

**He also realized that their relationship was repeated; the Cloud loved the Sky.**

**Makishima is Byakuran and Mukuro's son. Let's say Byakuran was top and persuaded Shoichi to somehow make Mukuro a woman long enough to have a son.**

**Review? Please tell me what you liked about it!**


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